"Back with more intensity" - Rafael Nadal resumes training after Australian Open setback, gears up for comeback in Qatar

Rafael Nadal is back on the tennis court, and is training with increased intensity after missing the 2024 Australian Open.

Nadal withdrew from the Melbourne Major due to an injury sustained in his Brisbane International quarter-final match against Jordan Thompson. The tournament marked his return after being sidelined for the majority of the 2023 season.

On Wednesday (January 31), the 22-time Grand Slam winner posted a picture of himself on the tennis court at the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy on his Instagram account.

“After a period of not putting anything on here, here we are. Back to the training sessions... with more intensity,” he wrote in the caption.

The former World No.1 is set to compete at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open scheduled for February 19-25, 2024. Over the years, he has lifted the singles trophy in Qatar once and secured the doubles title four times.

His only Qatar ExxonMobil Open singles title came when he defeated French tennis star Gael Monfils in the final in 2014. The first of his four doubles titles, meanwhile, came was when he partnered with his compatriot Albert Costa in 2005. The second was in 2009 with another Spaniard, Marc Lopez.

Nadal and Marc Lopez partnered together again in 2011 and clinched the trophy. In 2015, he partnered with Argentina's Juan Monaco to win it for a record fourth time.

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“After so many months of suffering, I saw him enjoying himself again” - Rafael Nadal's coach Carlos Moya

2022 US Open - (Getty images)

Rafael Nadal's coach Carlos Moya recently told Punto de Break that the 37-year-old is back enjoying himself on the court after spending the 2023 season injured.

He said that Nadal returning to the court reminded him of a Spanish fighting bull returning to the arena after being locked up for a year. He added that after many months of struggling with injuries, he witnessed the Spaniard having a great time on the court at the Brisbane International.

"It reminded me of a bull that has been locked up for a year, You just drop it in the middle and it goes like a beast. After so many months of suffering, I saw him enjoying himself again, both in training and in the games in Brisbane. That was the version of Rafa that we all wanted to see,” Carlos Moya said [translated from Spanish].

At the 2024 Brisbane International, Nadal defeated Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem and Australia's Jason Kubler but was knocked out in the quaterfinals by Jordan Thompson.